Off-label drug use in pediatric patients: a comparative analysis with nationwide routine prescription data

Abstract

Background. Children constitute a special population for off-label drug use (OLDU), yet limited drug-focused data exist regarding pediatric OLDU in clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate pediatric OLDU practice and compare it with pediatric drug utilization patterns of routine prescribing data. Methods. This cross-sectional study examined all approved pediatric OLDU applications, compared with electronic prescription data on national Prescription Information System of Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency in 2015. OLDU applications and prescriptions were analyzed for demographic characteristics, healthcare/socioeconomic indices as well as details of drugs and diagnoses. Results. We found 7,896 OLDU applications and 7,029,512 prescriptions for the pediatric population in 2015. OLDU applications and prescriptions were mostly practiced for “2-11-year-old” children (52.7% vs. 63.4%, respectively; p